Menu

All articles about Cultivators

Explore the features of tine and disc cultivators for shallow tillage, deep cultivation and subsoiling, for creating fine seedbeds to encourage seed germination, power- and ground-driven rotary cultivators for straw, stubble and crop residue incorporation and to cut crop establishment costs.

Advice and tips

CULTIVATORS

Tips for picking the best cultivator wearing metal

Replacing cultivator legs, wings and points can be a depressingly regular and ruinously expensive pastime for those working in the nation’s most abrasive soils. But instead of hunting around for…

CULTIVATORS

6 ways to improve autumn soil cultivation regimes

Many operators can be guilty of pulling the cultivator out the shed, heading to the field and cracking on with ground work, with the only parameter of success the sight…

CULTIVATORS

How, why and when to mole drain

Soggy fields, ruts deeper than your wellies and bubbling water from broken drains are all telltale signs your field drainage could do with a boost. It’s only in a wet…

EVENTS

Latest high-speed disc cultivators set to work at Tillage-Live

Designed primarily for shallow cultivation of stubbles, the short disc cultivator, has become an increasingly popular farming tool – and so the makes, models, features and options available have multiplied. Underlining their appeal,…

See all

Case studies

CULTIVATORS

Home-built 6m straw rake saves Northants farmer £10k

Having forked out for a 3m Claydon Evolution drill, Northamptonshire farmer Joe Brodie didn’t fancy the extra expense of buying a new straw rake to complete the setup. So he…

CULTIVATORS

Versatile Guttler cultivator-cum-drill works for Suffolk farm

Dismal weather and claggy soil conditions last autumn left Richard Ling hunting around for a drill that was light footed enough to get crops off to a respectable start. The…

CULTIVATORS

How Essex farmer adapted one cultivator to do four jobs

Armed with an ageing Vaderstad Carrier and yard full of scavenged parts, Andrew Metson has created a multi-use tillage tool that can also double up as a seeder. Originally purchased…

CULTIVATORS

Growers opt for front subsoilers to save time and cash

Saving a pass. It’s a short phrase made up of short words. But it represents the potential to make significant cuts to man-hours, fuel use, and tractor wear and tear…

See all

Community

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Inventions Comp 2025: John Roberts' steep land cultivator

John Roberts won third place in our intermediate category. Not to be beaten by a seemingly unfarmable gradient, the Powys hill farmer assembled this heavy-duty steep land cultivator. The 3m-wide…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Inventions Comp 2024: Andrew Metson’s Vaderstad Carrier

By treating his 24-year-old 5m Vaderstad Carrier to a series of upgrades, Andrew Metson has created a multi-use cultivator that can double up as a cover crop drill. In its…

WORKSHOP SKILLS

Inventions Comp 2021: Craig Peddie’s high-speed Seedtilla

Craig Peddie’s Seedtilla The 5m hydraulic folding Seedtilla is Craig Peddie’s answer to high-speed shallow cultivations. Built during the spring lockdown to fill the void of his drastically curtailed social…

See all

Insights

CULTIVATORS

How strip-cultivating power tillers can offer cost savings

Does it really make sense to cultivate where only weeds are going to grow? Or create a soil structure vulnerable to a period of heavy rain just as the field…

MACHINERY

Buyer's guide: 7 UK-made mole plough options and prices

Even the fanciest field drainage system relies on a periodic pass with a mole plough to keep it performing at its best. Never is this more apparent than a wet…

CULTIVATORS

Chain-linked disc harrows offer speedy stubble management

Chain-linked disc cultivators have yet to take off in the UK, but their simplicity, moderate power requirement and ability to incorporate stubbles at high speeds could change that. The versatility…

CULTIVATORS

Side-shift linkage options deliver pinpoint crop weeding

Razor-sharp RTK guidance systems have nailed the art of driving tractors in arrow-straight lines, but they can’t deal with the inevitable wandering of implements on undulating ground and in changeable…

See all

News

CULTIVATORS

Horsch expands Fortis tine-and-disc cultivator range

The established Horsch Fortis cultivator design, with its combination of rigid tines and mixing discs, has been extended. The current AS model now includes sizes from 5.6m to 8.9m for…

CULTIVATORS

Kuhn range gains compaction-busting 3m and 4m DT subsoilers

A brace of new subsoilers has joined Kuhn’s cultivator line-up, available in 3m and 4m widths and with different specs to bust compaction in a range of conditions. The models…

CULTIVATORS

SMS doubles disc cultivator range with new 4-6m Ontarios

Czech outfit SMS CZ has doubled its range of light disc cultivators with the addition of three tractor-mounted models between 4m and 6m wide. The trio of Ontarios – 400H,…

CULTIVATORS

New 6-7.6m Highlanders extend Kuhn’s tine cultivator range

Kuhn’s latest tine-based stubble cultivator will offer buyers more choice in terms of working depth and horsepower requirement. The new Highlander is designed to operate between 3cm and 20cm deep…

See all

Test and reviews

MACHINERY

Spirit fertiliser and seed into place

Growers in Scotland who like to put down some fertiliser with their cereal seed will welcome the  the Spirit Next System Disc Combo (SDC). Using standard components throughout, the SDC…

See all

Video

MACHINERY

Video: At the Auctions - Rainthorpe Farms sale

Farmers arrived from all corners of the country to see 375 lots get knocked down at one of the largest arable estates in recent years. Farmers Weekly was on hand…

ARABLE

Video: Grower cuts fuel costs as new drill hits blackgrass

The need to slash soaring fuel costs while tackling blackgrass at the same time has led to a wholesale change in establishment system on one Leicestershire estate. Farming 1,130ha of…

Tillage Event 2009

The two Tillage 2009 events take place at Down Ampney, Cirencester, Gloucestershire on 15 September and Kelso, Roxburghshire on 1 October. Both events offer farmers a great chance to see the latest…

See all